A year of living dangerously

I RECENTLY saw a film called I Don’t Know How She Does It, which portrays the trials and tribulations of a woman who dares to juggle that holy trinity of husband, children and — whisper its name — a high-flying career.

Having spent the best part of 2011 watching my friend, multi-award-winning correspondent Alex Crawford, being shelled, shot at, tear-gassed, roughed-up and arrested in the line of duty, the film plot seemed a tad weak.

For while Crawford risks life and limb to report from some of the world’s most godforsaken spots, her husband Richard Edmondson has sacrificed his own successful career to stay home with their four children (plus two adorable new puppies). It is a lifestyle that would put most relationships under severe pressure, but they make it work. Which has to beg the question not only of ‘how she does it’? but ‘why does she do it’? Crawford says her dilemma is simply that faced by many other working mothers.